[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Matt Bender hit one past Long Beach State's Tyler Hildebrand during last night's match. Bender had a match-high 25 kills and had a .250 kill percentage.
Warriors collapse
in 5-game lossLong Beach State comes back
from two down to beat UH
Ouch.
This one is going to hurt for a while.
It had looked so easy. No. 6 Hawaii completely dominated No. 2 Long Beach State for the first two games, only to let the match slip away in five last night.
The 49ers, getting 22 kills from Scott Touzinksky, rallied past the Warriors 21-30, 23-30, 30-28, 30-27, 15-13 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Beach (22-5, 15-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) defeated Hawaii (15-9, 11-7) for the first time in six meetings.
A stunned crowd of 4,469 saw the 49ers break a 13-13 tie in Game 5 with a kill by David Lee and an ace by Tyler Hildebrand to end the marathon after 2 hours and 41 minutes. The last time The Beach fell behind 2-0, it lost to BYU in five on Jan. 30. The Warriors also had a 2-0 lead against BYU on March 30 and lost in five.
Matt Bender again led the Warriors with 25 kills and Pedro Azenha, making his first start in six matches, added 18 kills and had three aces. Josh Stanhiser had 11 kills and was in on eight blocks, while Dio Dante -- replacing the injured Mauli'a LaBarre -- had three solo and four block assists.
Jeff Wootton added 14 kills, Robert Tarr had 12 and Lee finished with 11 for LBSU.
The Warriors outblocked the 49ers 19-15.
"We played very well in the first two games," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "Hindsight is 20-20. What we did, once again just like against BYU up 2-0, we switched over to play-to-not-lose mode rather than play-to-win mode.
"Maybe that's something that will take some time and some painful events to learn that lesson."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Matt Bender hit one past Long Beach State's Robert Tarr.
As happened Friday, it went to five. Again Hawaii had to rally late in the deciding game. Kills by Delano Thomas and Azenha tied it at 12. A service error by Thomas gave the 49ers a 13-12 lead, but Bender's last kill tied it at 13.
The 49ers were not going to let this one go.
"This was great for us," Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. "I think our ability to handle their serves at the end was the difference. They took us out of our offense in the beginning."
Despite his match high in kills, Bender was not satisfied with his performance.
"I'd like to say I didn't play bad, but I did," Bender said. "Their block was a little bit better tonight and they were ready. Think I need to get a little smarter, swinging for hands instead of swinging for the court.
"I thought we had good intensity. It was just the little things we needed to do at the right time. We really wanted this one. I think we learned a lot and we proved a lot. Long Beach is a really good team. Things will get better from here."
Hawaii led from the opening serve in Game 1. The Beach's offense sputtered, in part due to the Warriors' tough serving that kept Wootton, the 49ers' second-leading hitter, out of the mix.
Wootton, who had three consecutive 20-plus-kill matches coming into last night, didn't take a swing until putting down an overpass to bring his team to 23-20. Hawaii closed it out with a 7-1 run, highlighted by Azenha's first ace.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Pedro Azenha yelled after a point.
The Warriors pulled away in Game 2 on the strength of their block. Dante was in on three of UH's 6 1/2 blocks, including a solo stuff that put Hawaii ahead for good at 9-6.
The most celebrated block was by senior Ryan Woodward, who had his first career solo stuff when snuffing a dump by 49er setter Hildebrand.
The Warriors' biggest lead came at 24-15, helped by an ace from Thomas and the team's 11th block of the match.
The 49ers came back in Game 3, as did their offense. Touzinsky had five kills and Wootton added three as The Beach took control midway through the game.
The Warriors closed to 26-25 only to have a service error and Yassir Sliti's block of Stanhiser put the 49ers ahead 28-26. Touzinky's kill gave The Beach game point at 29-26.
Hawaii held off two game points, but Touzinky ended it with his 12th kill.
At 19-19 in Game 4, the 49ers went ahead for good at 22-19 on three consecutive points, two on Warrior hitting errors. Hawaii got as close as two twice, the last at 29-27, only to have Touzinky end it again with his 19th kill.
"I thought our team looked a little tired," said Azenha, who moved to left-side hitter in place of Thomas last night. "We ran out of gas. We kept fighting. The teams were pretty equal. It came down to details, whoever had better focus at the end of the game. It is sad to lose that close of a game.
"But we've got four more games and then the playoffs. We're still trying to figure out the starting lineup. The important thing is that everyone supports each other. We kept fighting, but they stepped up that last three games. What we learned is we have to come back even stronger after being up 2-0. There's still a lot of volleyball left after the first two games."
Hawaii closes out the regular home season with matches against UC Irvine on Friday and Saturday. The Warriors finish the regular season at Pepperdine on April 15-16.
MPSF standings
x-clinched MPSF Tournament berth
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L x-BYU 17 1 .944 21 3 x-Long Beach St. 15 4 .790 22 5 x-UCLA 14 4 .778 20 4 x-CSU Northridge 12 6 .667 18 7 x-Hawaii 11 7 .611 15 9 x-Pepperdine 11 7 .611 15 7 UC Santa Barbara 9 9 .500 15 10 UC Irvine 5 13 .278 11 16 Stanford 5 13 .278 8 15 USC 4 14 .222 6 19 Pacific 3 15 .167 7 18 UC San Diego 3 16 .158 6 17 Last night's results
Long Beach State 3, Hawaii 2
BYU def. UC San Diego, 3-0
CSU Northridge def. Pacific, 3-0
UC Irvine def. USC, 3-0
UCLA def. Pepperdine, 3-0
UCSB def. Stanford, 3-1
Long Beach State def. Hawaii
21-30, 23-30, 30-28, 30-27, 15-1349ers (22-5, 15-4 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wootton 5 14 9 28 .179 0 3 6 Coe 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hildebrand 5 2 1 4 .250 0 4 9 Barbosa 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hagstrom 4 1 4 5 -.600 0 1 1 Touzinsky 5 22 6 42 .381 0 5 9 Kijewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Sliti 4 7 1 9 .667 0 5 0 Budinger 2 3 2 8 .125 0 1 1 Munoz 5 0 0 1 .000 0 0 9 Lee 5 11 5 25 .240 0 8 1 Tarr 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 72 30 150 .280 0 30 41 Warriors (15-9, 11-7 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 5 2 2 7 .000 0 4 6 Muise 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Jeschke 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Beckwith 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Reft 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 13 Azenha 5 18 6 36 .333 0 1 5 Bender 5 25 12 52 .250 0 6 3 Woodward 5 4 3 11 .091 1 6 3 Thomas 4 2 4 8 -.250 0 0 4 Dante 5 7 0 13 .538 3 4 2 Stanhiser 5 11 3 22 .364 1 7 0 Totals 5 69 30 149 .262 5 28 36 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- LBSU (4): Wootton, Hildebrand, Touzinsky, Tarr. Hawaii (6): Azenha 3, Thomas 2, Tuyay. Assists -- LBSU (67): Hildebrand 61, Lee 2, Touzinsky 2, Budinger, Munoz. Hawaii (60): Tuyay 58, Reft 2.
T -- 2:41. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Wayne Lee. A -- 4,469.
